Post fermentation Temperatures

[Galek]

I want to get fermentation chamber and have a question that will determine the size.

How much does temperature affect the yeast and flavoring, after fermentation? I brew 5 gallons with no inclination of increasing that, and also brew once a month or so. My thought I can get a small fridge for a single carboy ~2 weeks (fermentation is done) and then leave in there or move it out until a keg is free. Everything is in the basement so it wont be huge temp swings and out of any light.

Searching shows thousands of articles/pages/threads about fermenting at certain temps I could not find anything regarding the need for precise temps for conditioning.

I would like to avoid having another large fridge sucking up Electricity if I can get a small wine fridge or dorm fridge. Also not keen on transferring carboys in and out of top loading freezers.

Thank you for any help,

 

[Hopper5000]

Overall once the fermentation is done you basically just have a large bottle of beer on your hands so you should treat it as such. I usually leave my beers sitting in primary for 2 to 4 weeks in my living room (I temp control with a tub and ice packs for the active part of the fermentation). I live in a mild climate so it is usually sitting at about 70F most of the time. Basically treat it like you would be cellaring something.

 

[JimRausch]

Hmm, you should have seen in some of those thousands of articles that the most important time for temperature control is during the 1st 48 hours post pitch. Keeping the temp toward the lower end of your yeast temp range during that period will help diminish the off-flavors common from too high a temperature. After that, it's not so critical and many (including me) will start to increase the temperature toward the end of fermentation to keep the yeast active. Once fermentation is complete, then the temperature during conditioning is less important. Colder temps will help the settling out of yeast and haze-forming proteins (cold crashing), and of course lagering is done as close to freezing as possible. But otherwise, it's OK to store it at whatever temp. you can maintain consistently. Your plan sounds good to me.

 

[Galek]

Thanks for your replies. It is what I though I just wanted some verification from the "professionals" here.

Hmm, you should have seen in some of those thousands of articles that the most important time for temperature control is during the 1st 48 hours post pitch.

Everything just said how important temp was to fermentation. There was no mention about post fermentation temperatures. Last night I looked in a back issue of Brew Your Own like that for an article that talked about fermentation temps being very important in improving beer flavor and consistency and found nothing.

 

[specharka]

To answer your question, no...post fermentation control is not a huge issue for yeast and flavor. However, it will affect beer shelf life. Wild temperature swings or temperatures above 80F will degrade hop compounds quickly.

If you are only interested in primary fermentation control and you only need space for one carboy, you could look into something like a Cool Brew jacket, which uses no electricity and requires minimal space and investment. Typically I only regulate fermentation temperatures for the first couple of days, and let them free rise thereafter. If you are looking for the capability to cold crash or lager, you want to invest in a chest freezer. It's the most efficient and affordable way to control fermentation temperatures. Not to mention there are very few mini fridges which will fit a 5G carboy in.